Home Team agency honours failed projects to spur innovation

Crime Correspondent When Mr Chan Tsan, chief executive of the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), saw the resumes of those from foreign start-ups, he was surprised by one thing: They were not shy about listing their failures.

- David Sun

This got him thinking about how he could encourage his organisation to embrace failure so that it could develop effective products and services.

From this, its Undaunted Award was born in 2023 to recognise unsuccessful initiatives, which the agency hopes will lead to successful ones that government agencies can use.

HTX is a statutory board set up in 2019 and comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, managing about 600 projects across the Home Team.

HTX designed the automated border control system, operated by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, which allows Singapore residents and departing visitors to clear immigration without their passports.

It is also developing cyborg cockroaches for search and rescue operations.

As a science and tech agency, HTX networks with many startups in Singapore and abroad.

Mr Chan said he noticed a stark difference between those here and those overseas.

He said: "Overseas, every single one of them, when they try to sell their start-up, they'll talk about how many they started, including those that failed. They would put (the failures) in their resumes.

"This was a very foreign thought. Nobody in Singapore would put their failures in their resume." He added that people in Silicon Valley wore their failures like badges of honour.

Mr Chan realised accepting failure and persevering were important for success, and such a culture was needed at HTX.